A raging debate over the doctrine of justification saw both sides gathered together at the Evangelical Theological Society event this past week in Atlanta. On the left, Bishop N. T. Wright challenged the traditional Protestant understanding of what Paul means in the New Testament when he talks about “justification by faith”. On the right, Tom Schreiner, standing in for John Piper, defends the Reformer’s view of the doctrine of justification. This particular fight is long from over with many more rounds to go before the bell rings. But Schreiner scored some good hits. One in particular relates to the them of this blog, Bible prophecy: Schreiner agreed with Wright that God used the Romans to punish the Jews for their sins in the first century. How is this related to Bible prophecy? It is key for understanding Daniel 9:24-27 and for understanding Jesus in His “Olivet Discourse” in Matthew 24 and parallel passages in Luke and Mark.
Here’s a quote from a current blog article at the Gospel Coalition in which Schreiner’s uppercut is described along with Wright’s reaction:
…The novelty of pairing Wright on a panel with Schreiner, another key critic, …riveted an audience that enjoyed more than two hours of sustained debate over New Testament texts, Greek terminology, and ancient Near Eastern and Roman society.
Tom Schreiner
Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testament interpretation at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, opened the long-anticipated exchange by delivering a paper on Wednesday night called “Justification: The Saving Righteousness of God in Christ.” He engaged in a direct and sustained critique of Wright, even as he labored to show common ground with the man he described as a groundbreaking thinker. He acknowledged that Wright is fundamentally correct that first-century Jews incurred the judgment of exile in the form of Roman oppression due to their sin. When Wright responded to Schreiner on Friday morning, he expressed surprise over their agreement on this point.
A Justification Debate Long Overdue – The Gospel Coalition Blog
Here’s the relevant part again from this last paragraph: “[Tom Schreiner] acknowledged that Wright is fundamentally correct that first-century Jews incurred the judgment of exile in the form of Roman oppression due to their sin.”
This is a really important point in the justification debate. Understanding this helps to prevent evangelicals from seeing the Gospel as purely individualistic. It does this by keeping in view the relationship of God to His people Israel in the context of His covenant. That’s what Daniel 9 is about. And that’s what is meant by the “Abomination that causes desolation” in Daniel 9:27, Mark 13:14 and Matthew 24:15: the “abominations” were the sins of the Jews climaxing in their corporate rejection of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. The resulting “desolations” included the destruction of Jerusalem by the hands of the Romans in A.D. 70 and the centuries of ruin upon Jerusalem that followed. For more on this theme of Bible prophecy, interested readers can explore these related pieces I’ve written on Historicism.com: